Wilbur, Ashley and Wedding Bliss

Mother/Daughter time....so sweet.

photo by Reid :)

Macy and I have been reading Charlotte's Web for the last few weeks. We read about a chapter a night. She is really enjoying it. It is so much fun when you can start reading them chapter books and they actually get it. They remember what you read the night before. Last night I asked her what she remembered from last night and she told me she learned that manure means cow poop. Well, I thought she was listening! HA! Anyway, we will continue on with our story and hopefully years down the road she will remember our special times together reading about manure.

***************************************************************************

Now, this part of my blog is dedicated to my sweet and special sister. She is special in so many ways. She is one that always has your back, no matter what. I am so glad that God gave her to me to have as a sister and a friend. She is not afraid of anything. She loves God and wants Avery to know how much God loves her. She is so brave and I wish I could be more like her. She takes the most awesome pictures you've ever seen. Her talent is way beyond her years. You know, she is only 30. Such a young pup. I look up to her in so many ways. She gives great hugs...you know...the ones that linger....like she really wants to hug you/me. She takes life one day at a time. She is an awesome mommy and makes it look so easy. She has waited on God's answer for a child and now Avery in one sweet little miracle. She loves her family. She likes Red Diamond sweet tea. She cries easily and has big sweet tears. She is beautiful. Her big brown eyes could stop traffic. She loves Sylvester Stallone and Dolly Parton. ha! I'm glad I have her to talk to and we talk on the phone quite a bit. :) She is honest and trustworthy. She tells in like it is and that is a good quality to have. I could go on and on. And although her birthday was in August, I didn't properly give her the credit she deserved...right, sis? :) Um, I guess August was crazy and I had a brain lapse. Who knows, but I do know this, I love her with all my heart and I'm glad she is my sister and I'm glad she's my friend. So, Ash, Happy 30th birthday. I hope your year is one that you will never forget. And just wait 31 is even better. HA!

Ash and Avery

*************************************************************************

And one more thing.....yesterday was our 13 wedding anniversary. Can you believe it? It seems like yesterday that I wore that beautiful puffy sleeved, beaded, tiny bow in the back, tulle filled dress...that cost hundreds of dollars. Troy was looking smashing in his black tux...that cost 50.00. How fair is that? Well, I remember that day being one of the best days of my life. It was a beautiful wedding full of pink, pink and more pink. Just ask my sister who said she looked like a big bottle of pepto bismol. And I guess, looking back at my pictures all these years later, she did. But hey, in 1994 that was the thing. Puffy sleeves was what it was all about. So, in honor of our big day, we wanted to escape to Hawaii or go on a cruise or something but that won't be happening anytime soon. So, we went out for lunch to the Aquarium and afterwards fed the stingrays. I got a good laugh out of Troy freaking out that they would kill him like they did the Crocodile Hunter. He cracks me up. It was a fun day, thinking back and being thankful that we have one another. Who would have thought that all those years ago of meeting in the halls of Smithville High School that we would be married, have 2 kids, a mortgage, a car payment and all the love we have for each other. Sappy, I know. So, Happy Anniversary to us....maybe we can go on that cruise on our 15th????????

Happy Birthday Lace!

On November 24, one of my dearest and sweetest friends turned 30! This girl is one that once you are friends with her she will change your life forever. She is kind, she is honest and she loves her family more than words. Her boys are her world. She is such a humble servant for God. As per my sis, she is so going to Heaven, Magna Cum Laude. :) She has taught me so much about how our Heavenly Father loves us. How much we mean to Him, no matter what and I am so thankful for that. She has taught me so much through her actions. She is an awesome example. She always puts others first. Her favorite scripture is Deuteronomy 33:12. Look it up...it is awesome. Her laugh is contagious and her smile is even more so. She can brighten up a room in a minute. She is an awesome cook and loves to wear aprons....which as rubbed off on me. She holds her home together with love. She is so well organized that when I visit her house I want her to come home with me and whip me into shape. She has moved to the country (sniff sniff) and has planted a garden and grown pumpkins. Where does she find the time? :) She is beautiful inside and out. We have the color pink in common! :) She has a sweet and tender heart. She LOVES coffee and all kinds of creamers. And if my memory serves me correctly Pralines and Pecans is her favorite. She is one fantastic OT. And although she now lives far away, she will always be a part of my life. So, here's to you Lacie! I hope your 30's are as rockin' as you are! I'm so thankful for you and for our friendship.

Oh, did I mention that she LOVES s'mores?

Happy Birthday, girl!!!

Princess Macy

For the past week, my baby has grown...a little. She has now started bathing herself. I run the water, she washes her hair, with conditioner and bathes! I know it sounds silly, but it really makes me sad. I mean I am glad she is so independent but I miss that baby stage. She is growing up so quickly. I just love her! She is so much fun to be around!

Last week, on the first night she bathed herself , she wanted to dress herself in her pj's. So, she had me go downstairs to wait for her. This is what came down the stairs. She never stops wanting to be Mommy's little princess! Wet hair and all! Did I mention she picked out her pj's too? ha! She slept in that tutu all night long.

I just spent who knows how long trying to post some pictures below. Anyone else get frustrated with blogger and can't get their pics and words centered? It is really frustrating. Maybe its just me....is there a secret? Anyway, enjoy the pics even though they aren't centered. I don't have time to fix them anymore! HA!

I never got around to posting about my sweet grandparents. We celebrated their 65th wedding anniversary and my Poppi's birthday all in one weekend. It was back in August but still blog worthy! I have been so bad about posting things and I guess since its almost 2008 that can be my resolution! HA I think that is my resolution every year.

Words cannot even express how much these two mean to us. They are the rock of our family and every single one of us want to be like them when we grow up! They are a constant reminder of how good God is. We are so lucky to have them in our lives.

Here are the best cousins in the world! We missed Jordan and Matt-Matt so much. We thought about holding their picture up in their honor! HA We love being together and have so many wonderful memories with MANY more to come. Love you guys!

Here are the cousins and all their sweeties! Aren't we a cute bunch??!

Here are my Mom, Aunt Jo-Jo and Aunt Giggi with Nana and Poppi. What an example they have all been in our lives!

And, the party isn't complete without a little table dance from Riley and Macy!

Grandparents
Few can bring the warmth
We can find in their embrace,
And little more is needed to bring love
Than the smile on their face.

They've a supply of precious stories,
Yet they've time to wipe a tear,
Or give us reasons to make us laugh,
They grow more precious through the years.

I believe that God sent us Grandparents
As our legacy from above,
To share the moments of our life,
As extra measures of His love.

Wordless Wednesday

Happy Fall Yall!

Birthday or Bust

This past weekend a bunch of us girls drove 6 hours to surprise one of our best and dearest friends. She will turn 30 at the end of the month so we thought if we went up there the first weekend in November, she would never suspect us coming. We left on Friday at lunch to make the 6 hour drive. After MUCH traffic in the big city we made it. So excited to see our friend. We miss her terribly! We thought we were going to be late because of the traffic but actually made it in plenty of time to "pink it up" in her living room. Life isn't comlete with out a little pink, right? ha! Well, we did, for a fact, surprise her. Of course, with the help of her sweet husband. And it was the best ever! I think I was just as excited as she was. I was so happy to see her. I read her blog this morning, through tears, remembering the fun time we had, the laughs, coffee, food, country breakfast, more laughs, singing (yes, we sang in the car...to the group Chord of Three...ever heard of them??) driving 6 more hours, and just plain having fun being together. It was a fabulous weekend. I want to go back. If you want to hear about the story through her eyes and see more pictures, go to Lacie's blog....her link is on my sidebar.

Happy Halloween

Tom Cruise, look out!

Mirror, mirror on the wall.....

Sweet Snow White

Cousin Mindy came to Trick or Treat with us. It was so fun!!

I had to post a few pics for my mom. I do have a few more pics that I'll have to download later. Just in case my other 3 readers want to see my kids and Mindy! Oh, Mindy went as Grandma Salas...that's what Macy said! HA HA.....Hope you all had a wonderful Halloween!!

Ok...I clicked on my cousins website and her site got a new look! Its PRECIOUS! And Reese...just beautiful! You need to go take a look. You can click on Jenna's site by clicking on her link on the side of my page. She won the new layout through a contest....well....I love contests, so, I added my name as well. :) Go to http://fabulouskblogdesigns.blogspot.com/ and enter to win. It couldn't hurt, right?? Thanks, Jenna!

Wordless Wednesday-YEE HAW

Race for the cure

Our shirts in memory of sweet Paula.

Good Morning Houston!! It started out to be a muggy,wet morning

but ended up clearing up and being a nice day. Me, Reid, Matthew

Christian, and Holly braved the non-competitive 5K race. It was

fun to share the day with our boys. To show them that this disease

is serious and claims the lives of millions of women.

Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure. It was a packed house. :)

SURVIVORS! How awesome is that. It was rows and rows
of pink survior flags. It was so touching.

Mommy and Reid. Reid ran 3 miles without stopping. He
beat me by 20 minutes. He was waiting for me at the finish
line. And he proudly wore pink for the special day.
He rocks....let me tell you! It was a sweet, but sad day to see friends
running for those who are surviors of Breast Cancer and those
whose loved ones have lost the battle. For all the women...we
salute you and we love you. And Paula, we miss you.

Wordless Wednesday

School Days!

My first day of school sweeties! Ok ok, I know...its October already. Well, it has been a month of hustle and bustle...ok, no excuses! I just got around to posting pics. So, here are my babies. Rooster is in the 5th grade and LuLu is in Kindergarten. They are both loving it and doing great! Rooster even made all A's on his progress report and LuLu made all E's! EXCELLENT!








I couldn't resisit...they looked so cute walking to school. You can't even see the school it was so packed that morning. I had to park blocks away. I guess everyone wanted to walk their kidos in for the first day.










Aunt Ashley and Avery came to spend some time with me since I was a little teary all day. I didn't know sending my baby off to Kindergarten was going to hurt my heart so badly! And sending my son to his last year of elementary. YIKES! Where has all the time gone? So, after school we HAD to get some ice cream. Yummy!







Avery really, really wanted some ice cream. The kids loved seeing her and spending some time loving on her. I enjoyed my day with her and Ash. We had a fun lunch at Jasons Deli. Avery loved all the attention and I loved all the snuggle time without having to fight my kids to hold her! ha









Mom and her kidos! Don't you just love LuLu's blue lips. Oh, the days when you didn't care that you had a blue ice cream mustache!

Fall ball fun

Macy....say cheese! You look so cute!

The girls....we love being together

This was supposed to be a serious one!

Now, a fun one! I look really scary! My hair is really scary!

This is me and Macy bored to death while we were waiting for Reid. He had baseball practice...which usually takes hours! It does gets a little boring. So whats two fun and crazy girls to do? Luckily, I had my camera. We had fun passing the time. As you can tell!

In all the fun Macy and I had in taking pictures of ourselves, I forgot to take a picture of Reid doing his "practice" thing. I know...I'm a bad Mom. So, here he is all ready for a game. Isn't my baby the cutest? I just wanna pinch his cute little cheeks.

Grandma

As I was tucking my sweet daughter in bed tonight I was hit with a deep question. I know...she's such a deep thinker. ha! As always, she asks me about Grandma Salas. She loved her so much and remembers her so well. It amazes me. She passed away about a year ago and asks about her almost every night. Along with Leon, Papa Johns toothless neighbor. Why she asks about him is beyond me. We met him once. He left a big impression on her one night when we were over there. She asked him about his tooth and why he only had one. I was so embarrased. I can't believe she even had the guts to ask him. Shes my outspoken one! But for real, he only had one tooth. I mean come on, pull it out for petes sake. What can you possibly eat with only one tooth? Anyway, thats besides the point. She prays for Grandma (and Leon..who died of a heart attack) every night. Her prayers are so sweet. So tender. She asks God to make them better so they can come back. I think they learned about Lazarus at church. :) If only it was that easy.

Tonight she asked me again, when will Grandma come back? She asked when we go to Heaven, how long will we be there. I said forever. It will be awesome! She said she doesn't really want to go right now. She said she didn't think there would be snow, pumpkins or Halloween. That girl! When has she ever seen snow! HA I told her how wonderful Heaven is and how God is preparing a place just for us. I went on to say that others go on before us to help get it all ready and wait for us with open arms. Grandma is waiting with open arms...just for us. We all miss her and love her but know that God is taking very good care of her. And God is taking care of so many other loved ones. I told her how wonderful that it will be. She didn't seem to excited. Yet. But for me. Oh my. No pain. No worries. No sickness. No debt (ha). No tears. No busyness. No evil. Only the best our Father has to give us. What a reunion....God is SO good!

How do you answer a 5 year olds answer about Heaven? Did I say the right thing?

Wordless Wednesday

Time flies....

I just tucked my baby into bed, read books, prayed, kissed and then as I left...cried. Why am I taking this Kindergarten thing so bad? I just feel so sad. I stood in her room remembering where her baby bed once was and how I would rock her at all hours of the night praying for her. Now, she has big girl stuff and now I step on Polly Pockets and Barbie shoes! ha Oh, I know she will do good. I know she will make friends. Its just I have been with her 24/7 for the last 5 years and tomorrow I will come home alone. I know it sounds pitiful and I know this time tomorrow night I will be fine. Really I will. Time just goes by too fast. Please keep her in your prayers as she starts this new adventure of her life. Because, watch out Kindergarten...here comes "LuLu".

As I tucked my other sweet baby into bed, we talked, we prayed and yes, he still gives me kisses. ha ha And thankfully he is full of excitement. His clothes were laid out in perfect order. Shirt, shorts, belt, socks and new Nike Shocks. He has been my little fashion bug lately. He has always loved shopping. HA This is the first year in a long time he hasn't cried from worrying about the first day of school. I think his teacher is awesome and he is really excited about having her. I just know it is going to be a good year...I can feel it in my bones. Or I guess I could say my mommy "gut" feeling. He also has friends in his class this year. Last year, remember...BAD! So, this year we have people we know and a great teacher. We are blessed. I also ask that you keep Rooster in your prayers for a good year, good choices and good times. Man, I love that boy.

I will post first day of school pictures soon. I love those first day of school pics, you know, the ones in front of the house with the backpacks on and ready to go. Mom used to always take one of us when we were little. I love those. :) Oh, the memories!

I thank my God upon every remembrance of you. Philippians 1:3

Coffee makes me happy

I saw this picture while "surfing" the net today. I loved it and had to post it. It is totally me. Truth be told, I have only liked, no loved, coffee for about a two years. I always swore that I would never drink it. My Mom always said I would and I said not on your life. My mom and my Nana drink it religiously and not only in the morning. They have afternoon coffee as well....with Mable across the street. Doesn't that sound like fun? Well, it is and Mable and Nana together is good for the soul. They have been best friends for over 30 years and have been through alot together. Well, that's for another post. HA Anyway, back to my dislike of coffee.....I even hated the smell of it. I never in a million years thought when I was in my 30's that I would become my mothers child and drink a whole pot of coffee BY MYSELF. Well, I do and so do my girlfriends. And we love it and we are proud of it! HA Coffee rules. Coffee gives you energy. Coffee smells good. Coffee makes me happy....well, with Pralines and Cream creamer (thanks, Lacie!) So, I guess you could say I am a coffee addict and love every minute of it! And now I am waiting on my sister to adore it as well. Just give it time, sis and you will come to love it!

Wordless Wednesday